Stocks up as rupee weakens

Karachi: Pakistani stocks rose to a more than two-month high yesterday, led by the banking sector, as institutions bought shares amid hopes of healthy corporate results in coming weeks, dealers said.

The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index ended 0.60 per cent, or 62.07 points, higher at 10,322.55. The KSE-index ended at 10,351.72 points on August 5. Turnover was 88.84 million shares, compared with 134.7 million shares on Friday.

"Positive activity continued ahead of the corporate result announcement session on strong support from institutions," said Ahsan Mehanti, a director at Arif Habib Investments.

In the currency market, the rupee weakened to cross Rs86 to the dollar, amid higher payments for imports, especially oil following a rise in international oil prices, dealers said.